‘It just shows how far we’ve come,’ says Spireites boss

Paul Cook believes his side’s goalless draw against Portsmouth could be used as a measurement to show how far Chesterfield have progressed as a club.

The Spireites boss was naturally disappointed not to widen the gap to four points over title chasers Scunthorpe and Rochdale at the top in League Two, but offered some perspective post match.

He said: “It shows you how far we’ve come as a club when Portsmouth are walking away from here with all the plaudits and we’re getting a little bit of criticism because we weren’t bright enough to open them up.

“Unfortunately, when teams get set behind the ball the logical way to beat them is to go big, long, quick and we’re not great at that.

“Fortunately for our fans we’ll try to keep playing good football. We’ll try to open teams up that way and when it doesn’t work we must stay with our players.

“I’ll commend them for being that brave to come out and play that way.

He added: “They’ve come to stop us play and that’s something we get used to being a good side - teams have to stop us playing to win a game. We’ve got to take credit for that.”

Tommy Lee produced two sensational stops to prevent the 2008 FA Cup winners, who moved up to 15th in the league table, from returning to the south coast with all three points.

Chesterfield did extend their lead to two points over their nearest challengers and there now stands six points between themselves in pole position and fourth placed Burton Albion.

The Spireites’ attention turns to Saturday when Cook faces former club Accrington Stanley at the Crown Ground.

And, with 12 games to go in the promotion race, Cook said he will keep his troops’ feet firmly on the ground.

“Everyone will get edgy,” he said. “I might look like a mad man on the side but I just try to keep calm in between games and keep the lads focused on trying to achieve the success we’re all after.”